


So, What Are You?

by orphan_account



Category: One Piece
Genre: Inspired by Episode: s03e01 Being Human (UK), POV Second Person, Post-Dressrosa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-06 18:36:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4232493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You're not a victim, so you're what? What, <em>misunderstood</em>?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	So, What Are You?

You walk through the yellow field as if you’re walking through a field of gold. The sun on the sunflowers makes it seem that way, anyway. You stumble as you walk, feeling the soft, smooth dirt wedge itself between your long toes and the ridges of your heels. Small, random stones prick your soles and you would’ve winced if you weren’t already struggling to breathe because you were in so much pain – whether it’s the phantom pain you experience from the near daily nightmares of childhood’s past, or the very real pain of being knocked down more stories than you can feasibly count, you don’t know. (It doesn’t really matter at this point, does it?)

The field of gold seems neverending, neverending unlike your reign over this former kingdom of toys and passionate women. You walk for – well, what you guess is a few more minutes – before something peeks its head over the stalks of golden flowers. The hair matches them in color, though, thankfully it’s wearing a black hat. You squint against the gold – and in pain – and stumble closer. Whatever thoughts were going on in your head disappear the instant you see that face, smudged with garish makeup and with a stare to end all stares. You gulp and avoid eye contact like a too shy girl.

You pass him, but he follows you like a shadow. You continue to stumble down your path without aim or thought or plan in mind. (If you want to be honest for the first time in your life, it doesn’t feel bad to have your mind empty of every thought. It feels so unbelievably good, you’re wondering that straw hat boy feels this way every day he’s not fighting warlords.)

Then, there’s a head of braided pink hair, arms wrapped around a bag of bread and meat. You keep going.

Some small children rush across your path, stopping you dead in your tracks. You furrow your eyebrows in confusion, but get back to stumbling.

You pass by disheveled men one by one, each with an odd, needy yet manipulative look on their faces. You vaguely remember them: they had _something_ to do with that fighting maid you have in your employ. (Or is it “had”?)

It’s a long path in this sunflower field and you wonder if it truly is neverending. Slowly, as you continued, more and more people appeared, to the point of crowding you with their heavy, hot, disgusting breath. Thankfully, you’re tall enough to avoid the smell of them. It’s only after it feels like hours have gone by that you turn around. Then, everything makes sense.

“I’ve got to say, Doffy,” the man with golden hair and a black hat says, “I was kind of hurt you didn’t seem to recognize me.”

You look around the field and the people in it – all the scornful, angry, sad, oddly cheerfully happy people. You gulp again, though your mouth is as dry as the desert. You mumble something, but you’re not even sure what.

“What, I didn’t catch that,” the man says.

“I’m sorry,” you say for, what? The first time in your life? No, wait, there was your former executive, the double agent, you said sorry to. You meant it then, right before he was obliterated in that factory explosion, but do you mean it now?

“Oh, you’re sorry?” the man almost laughs. The makeup on his face is smiling a smile much bigger than the one he’s modelling.

“I couldn’t help it. I was angry, and just…” What you’re apologizing for, you’re not entirely sure, but you take a hint from the situation.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it before,” the man says with a wave of his hand. He stumbles as well – maybe from pain, maybe because he was always clumsy – closer towards you. Blood, some of it dried, some of it still dripping wet, stains his heart printed shirt. The feathery coat that barely clings onto his shoulders, sways in tune with his stumbling feet. “The power, it’s revenge for the past, blah, blah, blah.” He passes by you. You sigh and close your eyes. He turns back and wraps an arm around your broad shoulders. (You don’t remember this kind of affection from him when he was alive, so oddly, you’re enjoying it. When will you ever experience it again?) He laughs coldly. “Anyway, let me introduce you to the everyone. Your twelve good men and true… though, there are many more than twelve people here and many of them are women, but I’ll keep going.”

His finger points towards the woman with pink hair. “That’s Scarlet, the former princess of this kingdom. She was a mother and wife. You know, when you ordered for her to be killed, she was getting food for her little girl. Rebecca’s her name; she’s the same girl you condemned to battle in the Coliseum until she somehow fought her way out, or you know, _died_.” You look up at this Scarlet and she stares at you. She isn’t glaring, but she’s not exactly all smiles. It’s just this… blank, empty look. You look over her head to avoid those strange eyes. “Rebecca actually suffers from frequent starvation, and not because you don’t feed the gladiators that well. She fears expressing her hunger because that’s what caused her mother to be killed. It’s funny, isn’t it?” he asks, turning towards you. “The ripples of your actions…”

“And… that’s Glenn,” he tells you as he points towards one of the odd, disheveled men. He smiles a toothless grin at the two of you, and you try not to run up to him and kick him in the face. “He’s Baby’s first fiancé, the first in a long line. Remember him? He actually has five children, can you believe it? Imagine little ol’ Baby having her own baby with that man, oh… I don’t really blame you for taking him out. I would’ve done the same… you know, if I was still alive by the time she grew up.” You flinch at the passive aggressive comment, and he seems to notice, but moves on.

“And that’s Angelica. She just recovered from a terminal illness. She was going to go on a whole new adventure on the seas… Well, that is before you and those four executives of yours destroyed her whole city for, what was it?” He pauses for a long while and you realize he actually wanted you to answer the question.

You swallow again before the words come. “Because I tripped on uneven pavement…”

He laughs again, but stops when he sees the look on Angelica’s face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like it was really funny, it was just… oh forget it,” he whispers to himself. “Now, next to her is her youngest son Delian, he was―”

“Stop,” you say, “Just stop.” You look down at the dirty ground and you feel something heavy in your chest. “I don’t know what I can say.”

“Don’t say anything,” he tells you as he removes his arm from your shoulders. The small comfort you took from this situation is gone and you feel so entirely uncomfortable now. He moves away until he’s standing amongst the crowd of your victims, you’ve figured out, staring at you with a look of hatred. “Every word that has come out of your mouth has been a fucking excuse,” he says. “It’s misdirection.”

“I’m not trying to lie to you,” you say in your defense. It suddenly feels like a trial.

“Not us, you’re lying to _yourself_.”

“I’ve tried to change,” you say.

He laughs and so do some of the other people in this wide open field of golden flowers. You suddenly feel small even though you’re ten feet tall. “Change yourself or the world?” He shakes his head before speaking again. “How’s that working out for you?”

“You know, it wasn’t completely my fault anyway. It was the government’s fault and those nobles and those fucking, goddamned commoners!” You didn’t realize you were screaming until you see the looks on your victims’ faces. They look rather scared at your outburst. (Or maybe they were just reliving the memories of their deaths. You were screaming when most of them were killed, you remember.)

“Oh, you’re doing it again now.” There’s a long pause between the two of you. You try to calm down while he walks – stumbles – around.

“I was twenty-six,” he finally speaks up. “I had this… _clumsiness_ imbued into my very bones. I wanted to be the best damn Marine there was. There was a little boy I cared about _more_ than the Marines and your so called family! Those are the things that make a human being, Doffy!” He yells at you, but then laughs again. “I guess you’re not a human being, though, right? You’re a _noble_ , a _world_ noble.” You stare at him; you two are borderline glaring at each other. “The arrogance to call yourself the _victim_. How _dare_ you insult all these people like that!”

“I _am_ a victim, Roci!” you scream. “What did I ever do to _deserve_ being held up like a piece of meat? What did I do as a _ten year old boy_ to be crucified like a _demon_? Tortured like an animal! Like a _worm_!”

“I was right there with you, too!” he screams back. “Do you not remember that? I was right up the wall, crying and screaming in fear and terror, in pain. What did _I_ do to deserve that, huh? But, look at you now. Look at _all_ of this.” He holds his arms out wide and you seethe. “ _This_ was your revenge, was it? For all that happened to us?”

“Yes. Yes, it was.” You stand proudly, angrily, and stare him down. “I made sure I got even with them for what they did to me… to _us_.”

“And what about Scarlet, then? And her daughter, her husband, sister, father, citizens?” You say nothing. “Were they paying for what happened back then, too? Or were they just in your way?”

“They were in the way, yes… just like you were.”

That shuts him up for a good minute.

“And now? What happens now?” He moves closer and looks you directly in the face. “You’ve lost everything. Everything you’ve ever worked for, everything _I_ tried to take down myself. Will you beg for forgiveness? Will you take on everything you can, to make up for what you’ve done to all these _lives_ you’ve destroyed?”

You stare into his eyes and refuse to answer. It’s probably because you don’t have one to give.

“Why do you think you’re here anyway? Did you think you could just dream away, like nothing _actually_ happened?” He clicks his tongue and moves away again. He trips and stumbles, too, but you don’t notice. You’re too busy trying to think about what he said. (Why were you here? Shouldn’t you be knocked out without a thought – much less a dream as vivid as this – going on in your head?)

“It’s going to take a lot to balance out the evil you’ve done, Doffy. I doubt there’s enough to make up for even a _sixth_ of what you’ve done.”

“What do you want me to do then, huh?”

“I want you to stop hiding!”

“I’m not hiding!”

“Oh, really? ‘I’m a victim, it was for revenge, it wasn’t my fault’!”

You grumble. “Fine. I’m not…”

“You’re not what?”

You pause and swallow again. “I’m not a victim.”

“You're not a victim, so you’re what? What, _misunderstood_?”

“I’m a demon!” you scream at him. It feels good to admit it, finally. “I don’t deserve mercy or forgiveness! I’m a _murderer_! I couldn’t help myself; I couldn’t stop it, or me, or them! I loved it! The sensation… the _power_. I was dead, dead inside for so long… but then, I never felt so _alive_. I wasn’t human before then, but now… there’s no way I can be.”

There’s silence throughout the field. Your victims stare at you, quiet as mice, unmoving like statues. The quiet gets so loud, it makes your ears hurt. You look over at the golden haired man and speak once more. “I’m a demon. I’m _not_ sorry for it…”

And this time, you mean it.

**Author's Note:**

> In s03e01 ("Lia") of Being Human (UK), Lia confronts Mitchell on his past killings and the excuses he makes for himself. It fits rather well with Doflamingo and what he's done in his life, so I took the scene and edited it to fit Doffy's situation. (Does that count as stealing? I hope not.)
> 
> In the Being Human episode, Mitchell is actually, truly sorry for what he's done. He basically repented to Lia and the other 19 victims on the train. I _highly_ doubt Doffy would do the same. Doffy isn't the type of person to apologize for anything or to anyone except the closest people to him, like Vergo and the other Executives (and possibly his brother before Roci's betrayal). The only way I see can see Doffy apologizing and repenting for his crimes is if he was thoroughly defeated in mind, body, and spirit. Otherwise, he will - is going to - end up like Enel: defeated, but still having his warped, God-like mentality. (I doubt Doffy would literally leave the planet and reign over cute little moon people, though.)


End file.
